An interesting historical overview of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

During 2017–2018, Fordham University hosted a three-part lecture series entitled “A Different Take on Israel/Palestine: Shared Histories, Divergent Pathways.”

The speakers were Hussein Ibish and David N. Myers.

They discussed the topic in detail, offering the public an in depth analysis of this longtime political controversy and covering three different historical periods-1882 to 1948, 1949 to 1979 and 1979 to the present.

The final conference was held at McNally Amphitheater, in Lincoln Center.

ANTONIA: Last Tuesday, Fordham University hosted at McNally Amphitheater in Lincoln Center the third of three lectures entitled ‘A Different Take on Israel/Palestine: Shared Histories, Divergent Pathways’.

The organizer of the event, Magda Teter, is Chair in Judaic Studies and Professor of History at Fordham.

She is particularly devoted to the cause and considers the issue of great importance in our historical time.

MAGDA TETER: I decided to do it because this is an important topic and it’s also a topic that people avoid to discuss in substance, but have very strong passionate opinions about it. So we wanted to bring scholars so that they could be able to come with knowledge and substance to discuss it.

ANTONIA: The speakers, Hussein Ibish and David Myers, were chosen because of their experience in the field of Jewish Studies and History.

Hussein Ibish is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington and a monthly contributing opinion writer for the New York Times.

I decided to talk to David Myers about the intervention of the UN in the resolution of this long-time political crisis.

DAVID MYERS: Had the UN devoted its energies to efforts at the negotiating settlement as part of what is known as the quartet-United States, Russia, European Community- I think it could have played a more constructive role. It could have used the moral authority of the Secretary General to do so.

ANTONIA: His contribution was interesting and surely valuable, as long as he is currently the CEO of the Center for Jewish History in New York and he directly experienced the hardest historical parenthesis of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The event was co-sponsored by Fordham’s Jewish, Middle Eastern, Peace and Justice Study Programs, and the Department of History.

From Fordham University, in the Bronx, I am Antonia Vanzini.